Piano flanges



March 8, 1960 J. scHwARzBAUR 2,927,493

PIANO FLANGEs Filed Nov. 8, 1951' Are- INVENTOR y BY@ /J ATTORNEY Y .r "fe United States PIANO FLANGES Julius Schwarzbaur, New York, N.Y. Application November 8, 1957, Serial No. 695,311 Y 1 Claim. (Cl. 84251) The present invention relates to flanges for piano actions, and more particularly to an improved flange which permits adjustments of certain elements in upright and grand piano actions without requiring removal of the flange.

The flange of my present invention represents an im provement over that disclosed in my Patent No. 2,793,555, granted on May 28, 1957.

An important object of the invention is to provide a one-piece flange with adjusting means so located therein that the elements pivotally carried by the flange may be adjusted in four directions without requiring removal 'of the flange.

Another object of the invention is to provide a onepiece flange for piano actions combined with a pair of adjusting members in such manner that the flange may be partially lifted from its support in the action when the one or the other 'adjusting member is rotated.

An additional object of the invention is to provide adjusting means for changing the position of certain parts in an upright or grand piano action which may be combined with piano flanges of known construction and require little or no modifications of existing flanges.

The invention resides basically in the provision of a pair of adjusting screws carried by a one-piece flange, the screws being so positioned with respect to the retaining screw of the ange that the flange pivots about one of its longitudinal edges when the screws are turned in one or the other direction. In this manner, the elements carried by or pivotally connected with the piano ange may be adjusted in two directions, and by loosening the retaining screw which holds the ange to its support, the flange and elements connected thereto may be adjusted in two additional directions by rotating the flange about the retaining screw.

Other objects of the invention, as well as certain additional features, advantages and attributes of the improved ange will become apparent in the course of the following detailed description of two embodiments selected for illustration in the accompanying drawing, and the invention will be finally pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of an upright piano action which includes a butt ilange provided with my novel adjusting means;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of the butt flange and of the action rail in section;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the butt flange;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a grand piano action showing a hammershank flange combined with the novel adjusting means;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevational view of the ham mershank ilange; and

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the ilange shown in Fig. 5.

Referring now in greater detail to the illustrated embodiments, and first to Fig. 1, the upright piano action 10 therein shown comprises an action rail 11 which supi 2,927,493 Patented vMar'. 8,

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ports a butt ange 12, shown in greater detail in Figs. 2 and 3, and a damper lever flange 13 of known design. Flange 13 pivotally supports a damper lever 14 which carries the damper wire 15, damper block 16 and damper felts 17, the latter being shown in contact with the string 18. Butt flange 12 pivotally supports a butt 19 which carries the hammershank 20 and hammer 21 shown in its position when the corresponding piano key is at rt. t

The improved butt flange 12, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3,`comprises a'body portion or member22 which is preferably made' of wood, but may also be manufactured of metal or a suitable plastic, a retaining wood screw,23 which traverses the flange and is screwed into the action rail or support 11, a pair of'adjusting screws 24,25, and a'transverse pin 26 passing through the prjections122a.' 22b at one longitudinal end ofthe'ange. The axis of retaining screw 23 s in the longitudinal central plane of symmetry'X of flange 12 which latter is disposed at right angles to the two major surfaces of said ange. As is shown in Fig. 3, the axes of adjusting screws'24,

, 25 are disposed symmetrically with respect to the plane X. The above described elements, with the exception of adjusting screws 24, 25, are of known construction. The underside of the flange body 22 is provided with a flat transverse recess 27 which is of suicient depthto fully accommodate the heads 24a, 25a of respectivefadjstingscrews24,2`5.'

The action rail or support 11 has a transverse bead 11a which is received in the recess 27 when the ange 12 is connected therewith by means of wood screw 23. There is sutiicient clearance between the end surface 11a of bead 11a and the adjacent transverse surface 27a in the cutout 27 to permit limited rotation of flange 12 about the retaining screw 23 when the latter is not drawn too tight. In this manner, the butt 19 with hammershank 20 and hammer 21 may be adjusted transversely of the string 18, as is well known in the art.

Adjustments of llange 12 about its longitudinal edges adjacent to rail 11 may be made by means of screws 24, 25 whose visible ends are slotted, as at 24b, 2511, and whose enlarged heads 24a, 25a abut against the adjacent surface of action rail 11. By rotating, for example, adjusting screw 25 in a direction to move its head 25a out of the recess 27, the (in Fig. 3) lower longitudinal edge of flange 12 is moved away from the rail 11 and the ange thus pivots about its other longitudinal edge together with the butt 19 and hammer 21. By turning the adjusting element 24 in the same manner, the (in Fig. 3) upper longitudinal edge of the ange is lifted away from the action rail 11. The adjustments necessary by means of elements 24 and 25 are rather small and the retaining screw 23 need not even be loosened when the one or the other screw 24, 25 is rotated. IIt will be seen that adjust! ments in four directions may be made by employing flanges of known construction without completely removing the flanges from the piano action.

The damper ange 13, too, may be provided with adjusting elements 24, 25 to control the position of damper felts 17 relative to the piano string or strings 18.

The important advantage of ange 12 as compared with those disclosed in my aforementioned patent is in that it is much simpler and thus considerably cheaper in manufacture. It will be noted that its body member is made of a single piece, thus requiring less precision and a smaller number of operating steps in manufacture. Moreover, if made of two halves, the bores for adjusting screws 24, 25 must be of different diameters and additional means for preventing relative displacement of the two halves are necessary.

lIn Fig. 4, there is shown a hammerhead flange 30 attached to the grand action hanger 31 and pivotally supporting a hammershank 32 with hammer 33 which, in its position shown, is spaced from the string 34. In this position of hammer 33, the damper felts 36 carried by the damper head 35 rest against the grand piano string 34.

Flange 30 is shown in greater detail in Figs. 5 and 6. it comprises a one-piece body portion or member 37, preferably of wood, a wood screw A38 which, as shown in Fig. 4, is screwed into the material of action hanger 31, a reduced portion 37a at one longitudinal end of the body portion 37 traversed by a pin 39, a drop screw 4t2, and a pair of adjusting screws 41, 42 corresponding to elements 24, 25 of Figs. 2 and 3. As is shown in Fig. 5, the underside or the lower major `surface of body portion 37 is provided with a at transverse cutout 43 to receive the 'respective heads 41a, 42a of the adjusting screws. Pin 39 connects the lange 30 with hammer-shank 32 in a well known manner.

The purpose of adjusting screws 41, 42 is to pivot 'the 'flange 30 about its longitudinal edges in that 'their heads 'engage the adjacent surface of a'eti'on 'hanger 'or `support 31 and move the one or the other longitudinal edge of the flange away from the hanger. By loosening the retaining 'screw 38, 'ange 30 may be rotated about said screw thus permitting adjustments of hammer 33 iin twol 'additional directions. 'Ihe depth of cutout 43 should be suicient to fully accommodate the heads 41a, 42a if no tilting of the flange with respect to action hanger A31 is desired. As may be observed in Fig. 6, the axes of members 41, 42 are parallel with the axis of retaining screw 38 and are symmetrically disposed with the longitudinal central plane of symmetry Y of a'nge 30. The axis of retaining screw 38 is located in plane Y and is perpendicular to the two major surfaces of the ange.

Other anges in the grand piano action, for example, the underlever flange (not shown) may be combined with adjusting screws 41, 42 in analogous manner.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

In a piano action comprising a support, a piano frange having means adjacent one end for mounting a hammer, damper, or the like, and consisting of a one-piece elongated body member having a longitudinal central plane or" symmetry, and a retaining screw rotatably traversing said body member, extending into said support for fixing the body member to the latter, and havingv an axis in said plane, the improvement which comprises two elongated adjusting screws having axes parallel with the axis of said retaining screw, disposed symmetrically on opposite sides of said plane, and extending screwthreadedly through said body member, each adjusting screw having an end 'adapted to project beyond said body ymember and into engagement withsaid support.

References Cited inthe ile of this patent UNITED .STATES PATENTS l181,866 Preston Sept, 5, 876 473,241 Shailer Apr. 19, 1892 473,242 Shailer Apr. 19, 1892 634,474 Osterberg Oct. l0, 1899 2,610,358 Martin Sept. 16, i952 y2,793,555 Schwarz'baur May 28, i957 

